Determined to check the continued despoliation of the environment, the Federal Government yesterday said plans are underway to ban the use of plastic bags in the country. Minister of Environment, Mrs. Hadza Mailafia, who dropped the hint during the 2013 World Environment Day celebration in Abuja, said government would favour the use of paper bags in their place.
Mailafia, who said the ban would take effect from January 2014, also said the Federal Government was also considering banning the use of sachet water.
According to her, the move to ban the plastic bags are necessitated by the numerous health and environmental hazards associated with their use.
The minister noted that unlike the paper bags that could easily decompose, plastic bags are non-biogradable materials which could stay in the soil for years, contaminating water sources when washed into the rivers by the rain.
Relying on the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO's, statistics, the environment minister said one-third of global food production is wasted from farm to stock which is equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes of food annually; while an estimated 870 million people go hungry worldwide. She said more than 20, 000 children under the age of five also die daily from hunger.
In order to narrow the hunger gap and improve the wellbeing of the most vulnerable in the society, the minister said there was the urgent need to address the massive loss and waste inherent in today's food system.
In Lagos, Governor Babatunde Fashola said the staggering volume of wasted food in the state would no longer be tolerated. He said the habit constitutes a huge drain on the state's resources, especially when food crisis still looms in some parts of the world.
Speaking at the 2013 World Environment Day held at the LTV 8 Blue Roof Alausa, Ikeja, Fashola described this year's celebration entitled; "Think. Eat. Save" as clarion call, urging all sectors of the world's society – government and non-governmental organisations to be conscious of the environmental impact of the choices of food they make.
He added that the occasion would also guide residents against food wastage.
He said; "The impact of the food waste is not just financial but also environmental. Food wastage leads to squandering of resources such as fertilizers, pesticides and fuel used for transportation. The volume of food going to landfills, thus creating more methane, makes a significant contribution to global warming."
The governor was represented by his Deputy, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire.
He identified the impact of flooding on the wastage but submitted that efforts must be made to mitigate the loss of life and property.
To effectively curb the wastage of food, the governor charged the resident to be rational in making choice of the food they buy and consume to avoid wastage.
Fashola added; "When we learn to preserve food, we save food and we preserve the environment. In the world of over seven billion people, where food crisis is looming with difficult financial times, wasting food just make no sense in a resourceconstrained world; economically, environmentally and ethically.
Speaking earlier, Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, said the celebration marked the beginning of the process of cultivating the habit of reducing food wastes in our different homes in order to reap the maximum benefits of saving money, minimising the environmental impact of food production, thereby bringing efficiency into food production processes.
According to him, the day's event would make immense impact if people endeavour to deliberately choose organic food items with less negative environmental impact.
He enjoined Lagosians to eat less of canned food flown across the air, land and sea in order to limit emissions.
Bello continued: "Many of us take the environment for granted because it has never crossed our minds that most of the resources from nature, most especially food, needs to be economically deployed. Let us remind ourselves at this juncture that this year's theme frowns at our collective bad attitude of food waste and its devastating effects on the environment.
National Mirror